< 1 Thessalonians 2 >
1 For you yourselves, brethren, know that our visit to you did not fail of its purpose.
For you yourselves know, brothers, that our visit to you was not in vain.
2 But, as you will remember, after we had already met with suffering and outrage at Philippi, we summoned up boldness, by the help of our God, to tell you God's Good News amid much opposition.
On the contrary, even though we had previously suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the face of strong opposition.
3 For our preaching was not grounded on a delusion, nor prompted by mingled motives, nor was there fraud in it.
For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or with deceit,
4 But as God tested and approved us before entrusting us with His Good News, so in what we say we are seeking not to please men but to please God, who tests and approves our motives.
but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God, who examines our hearts.
5 For, as you are well aware, we have never used the language of flattery nor have we found pretexts for enriching ourselves--God is our witness;
God is our witness that we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed, as you well know.
6 nor did we seek glory either from you or from any other mere men, although we might have stood on our dignity as Christ's Apostles.
Nor did we seek glory from men (neither from you nor from others), though as Christ's apostles we could have asserted our authority.
7 On the contrary, in our relations to you we showed ourselves as gentle as a mother is when she tenderly nurses her own children.
Instead, we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother caring for her children.
8 Seeing that we were thus drawn affectionately towards you, it would have been a joy to us to have imparted to you not only God's Good News, but to have given our very lives also, because you had become very dear to us.
We had such strong affection for you that we were pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become dear to us.
9 For you remember, brethren, our labour and toil: how, working night and day so as not to become a burden to any one of you, we came and proclaimed among you God's Good News.
For you remember, brothers, our labor and hardship. Working night and day so as not to be a burden on any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God.
10 You yourselves are witnesses--and God is witness--how holy and upright and blameless our dealings with you believers were.
You are witnesses, and so is God, of how devoutly, righteously, and blamelessly we conducted ourselves among you who believe.
11 For you know that we acted towards every one of you as a father does towards his own children, encouraging and cheering you,
As you know, we dealt with each one of you like a father deals with his own children, exhorting you, encouraging you,
12 and imploring you to live lives worthy of fellowship with God who is inviting you to share His own Kingship and glory.
and testifying that you should walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.
13 And for this further reason we render unceasing thanks to God, that when you received God's Message from our lips, it was as no mere message from men that you embraced it, but as--what it really is--God's Message, which also does its work in the hearts of you who believe.
We also give thanks to God without ceasing because, when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.
14 For you, brethren, followed the example of the Churches of God in Christ Jesus which are in Judaea; seeing that you endured the same ill-treatment at the hands of your countrymen, as they did at the hands of the Jews.
For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, because you suffered the same things from your own countrymen that they did from the Jews,
15 Those Jewish persecutors killed both the Lord Jesus and the Prophets, and drove us out of their midst. They are displeasing to God, and are the enemies of all mankind;
who killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and who also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to all men
16 for they still try to prevent our preaching to the Gentiles so that they may find salvation. They thus continually fill up the measure of their own sins, and God's anger in its severest form has overtaken them.
by hindering us from telling the Gentiles how they can be saved. In this way they are always filling up the measure of their sins, but wrath has come upon them at last.
17 But we, brethren, having been for a short time separated from you in bodily presence, though not in heart, endeavoured all the more earnestly, with intense longing, to see you face to face.
As for us, brothers, when we were bereaved of you for a brief hour (being physically absent, but with you in our hearts), we longed with great eagerness to see you face to face.
18 On this account we wanted to come to you--at least I Paul wanted again and again to do so--but Satan hindered us.
Therefore we wanted to come to you—certainly I, Paul, tried to do so again and again—but Satan hindered us.
19 For what is our hope or joy, or the crown of which we boast? Is it not you yourselves in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His Coming?
For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you?
20 Yes, you are our glory and our joy.
Yes, you are our glory and joy!